Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-25

for her living. All the other women Of
Phihppi and Thyatira have been forgotten;
| but God has made immortal in our text,
Lydia, the Christian saleswOman.
The other text shows you a man with
head, and hand, and heart, and foot all
busy tOiling up until he gains prineely
success. ''Seest thou man diligent in his
business? he shall stand before kings. y
Great encouragement in these two pass
ages for men and women who will be busy,
but no solaee for those who are waiting for
good luck to show them, at the foot OF the
rainbow, a casket of buried gold. 1t is
folly for anybody in this world to wait for
something to turn up. 1t will turn down.
The law of thrifts is as ineXOrable as the
law of the tides. Fortune, the magician,
may wave her arm in that direction until
castles and palaces come; but she will,
after awhile, inyert the same wand, and
all the splendOrs will vanish into thin air.
There are certain styles Of behavior which
lead to usefulness, honor and permanent
success, and there are certain styles of be-
havior which lead to lust, dishonOr and
moral default would like to fire the
ambition of young people. have no
sympathy with those who would prepare
young folks for life by
wHIrTLING DOWN THEIR EXPECTATIONS.
That man or woman will be worth moth
ing to Church or State who begins life
cOwed down. The business Of Christianity
is not to quench but to direct human am
bition. Therefore it is that come out
this morning and utter words Of encOur-
agement to those who are occupied as
clerks in the stores, and shops, and bank
ing-houses of the country. You say: why
select one class, and talk to one specially
this morning." For the same reason that
n surgeon does not open the door of hos
pital and throw in bushel of prescriptions,
saving: "COme, now, and get your medi-
cine" He first feels the pulse, watches
the symptoms, and then prescribes for that
particular case. So to-day must be
specific. The people in this audience who
are clerks are not an exceptional class.
They belong to a great company OF tens
of thousands who are in this country, amid
circumstances which will either make
or break them for time and
for eternity. ] should be very
slow to acknowledge that the
clerks, male and female, of other cities,
are any more honest or faithful than the
clerks of our own city. Many OF these
people have already achieved Christian
manliness and Christian womanliness
which will be their passport to any posi-
ton. have seen their trials. l have
watched their perpleXities. There are
evils abroad which need to be hunted
down, and dragged out into the monday
light.
In the first place, / counsel clerks to re-
member that for the most part
THEIR CLERKsHIP IS ONLY A SCHOOL
from which they are to he graduated. 1t
takes about eight years to get one of the
learned professions. 1t takes about eight
wears TO get to be o merchant. Some Of you
will be clerks all your lives, but the vast
majority of you are only in q transient pO-
sition. After awhile, some December day,
the head men of the firm will call you in
to the back office, and they will say
TO YOU: 'sNow, you have done well by us;
we are going to do well by you. We in
yite YOU to have an interest in our con-
Germ" You bow to that edict very grace
fully. Getting into street car to go home,
an old comrade will meet you and say:
''What makes you look so happy tO-night?'
''Oh," you will say, nothing, nothing"
But in few days your name will blossom
on the sign. Either in the store or bank
where you are now, or in some other store
or hank, you will take higher position
than that which you now occupy. So feel
TODAY that | am standing before people
who will yet have their hand on the helm
of the worlds commerce, and you will
turn it this way or that; now clerks, but
to be bankers, importers, insurance COM
pany directors, shippers, contractors, super
intendents of railrOads-your voice mighty
oon 'Changer-standing foremost in the
great financial and religious en-
terprises of the day. For,
though we who are in the professions may,
on the platform, plead for the philanthro-
pies, after all, the merchants must cone
forth with their millions to sustain the
movement. Be, Therefore, patient and dill
ipeut in this transient position. Hou are
now where you can learn things you can
never learn in any other place. What you
consider your disadvantages are your
grand opportunity. You see an aftuent
father some day come down on prominent
street with his son, who has Just graduated
from the University, and establishing him
in business, putting one hundred thous-
and dollars Of capital in the store. Well,
YOU ARE ENvIoUs.
You saw: 80, if / only had a chance
like that young man-if only had father
10 mt one hundred thousand dollars in a
business for me, then would have some
chance in the world Be not envious.
You have advantages over that young man
which he has not over you. As we'll might
I come down to the docks when vessel is
about to sail for Valparaiso, and say: Let
me pilot this ship out OF the Narrows." q"
Why, / would sink crew and cargo before
I rot out of the harbOr, simply because l
know nothing about pilotage. Wealthy
sea CAPTAINS put their sons before the mast
for the reason that they know that it Is the
onIy place where they can learn to be sue
oessfil sailors. 1t is only under drill that
neonle get to understand pilotage and nayi-
cation. and want yOu 70 understand that
e takes no more skill 10 conduct vessel
ont of the harbOr and across the sea, than
20 steer a commercial establishment clear
of the rocks. You see every day the
folly of people going into a business
thew know nothing about. A man
makes q fortune in one business;
thinks there is another occupation
more comfortable; goes into it and sinks
an. Many Of the commercial establish
ments of our cities are giving to their
clerks a mercantile education as thorough
AZ Yale, or Harvard, or Princeton are
giving scientific attainment to the students
matriculated. The reason there are so